ONE BODY OF MANY PARTS (PART 5)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:27-31

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Perhaps a person could take verses 12 through 31 of 1 Corinthians 12 and deliver one message. I could have taken that route but I feel in doing so, it would have lessened the impact that these verses were intended to have in regard to the church and Christians within it. And so I have spent five days on this matter with today being the final devotion in this series.

The main theme of this block of scripture is once again touched on in verse 27 of today’s passage:

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Every Christian is a part of the body of Christ aka the church. And every Christian is unique in the way the Lord has equipped them to carry out His work within the church which is one body made up of many parts, just like the human body that Paul so skillfully uses as an illustration to make his point.

God places the right people with the right skills to carry out His right and righteous plan within any one church, any one body of Christ. It’s as true today as it was back in first century AD when the Christian church got started.

Within the body of Christ in Corinth, the Lord first placed apostles followed by prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, helpers, counselors, and finally those who could not only speak in tongues but interpret that language as well. Each had different roles to play but all were equally important to the mission of the church which was one body of Christ made up of many parts.

Today the church has pastors with administrators and staff. There are deacons/elders, ministry directors, worship leaders, teachers, musicians, kitchen workers, greeters, security staff and the list could go on and on. Like the church in Corinth, God has purposely placed people within the body of Christ today with particular skills to carry out particular purposes to fulfill his particular plan.

That’s the way God designed the church to be.

But there’s one more thing.

A person could be used in more than one way by the Lord within the church. In other words, they may have several gifts and talents to use in multiple roles within the body of Christ. As a person matures in the Lord within the church and shows desire to serve, the Lord can activate new gifts within that person and bring to them more ministry versatility.

In other words, you’re not necessarily just going to have one part within the body. The Lord may give you many different parts to play and therefore, we can eagerly desire greater gifts from God in order to use them to serve and glorify Him within the church.

As we close this series, the key is for every Christian to be involved in the work of the church, seeking and finding the role God wants them to play and then carrying out His calling. The church is one body of Christ made up of many parts but it’s only going work right if all the parts are working together, using the gifts they have been given for the common good.

The Lord wants you to do your part.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com